Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

The Outrage of CPE1

Maybe it's because I have an endoscopy and colonoscopy in a few hours --- so excuuuse me for this rant.

I know this is becoming the CPE1 blog -- and I imagine some of you want to hear other news -- but I also try to link what is going on there to the larger complexities -- like I haven't even tackled the race, segregation and diversity issues surrounding the CPE1 situation. I have learned so much from my contact with so many CPE1 parents and teachers - but most of my conversations have been with the parents, as diverse a group of parents that exists in this system -- a model for any school and community despite the attacks by the DOE and Garg supporters that the school was exclusionary. I also haven't delved into the issue that the DOE wanted to change CPE1 to make it more competitive with Eva-like charters in District 4 which are attractive to parents who are nervous about the freedom children get in a progressive school. (Read some press reports the last 2 days to see the underlying attacks on the CPE1 people buried in the reports -- I don't have all the links to the WSJ, New York Times, New York Daily News, DNAinfo-- I'm too weak from hunger to look for them -- so leave a comment with any links you find.)

While the CPE1 community celebrates the victories - and there may be more breaking good news later in the day - I still have feelings
of outrage.

Outrage at the Farina admin at the DOE for basically leaving so much of the BloomKlein era intact where teachers can be brought up on firing charges for the equivalent of having a hang nail while principals go free for committing educational murder. In fact I was going to go to the PEP meeting tonight to spend 2 minutes yelling at Farina and the PEP members for allowing this situation to go on for so long - and for allowing people like Garg - and Jahoda - to run schools. And for dissing Debbie Meier's vision. Rumor was that she left in tears after a meeting with Farina. (My belief has been that Farina was jealous of the Debbie notoriety as an educator).

Outrage at the UFT, which actually got involved after we encouraged dozens of parents and teachers to come to EB meetings - not as much as we wished -- but we'll take the outcome -- they will surely claim full credit for the outcome, but only became woke when parents and teachers worked with MORE/New Action to put the issue right in front of their faces --- after over a year and a half of inaction.

...we from MORE/ New Action spent hours meeting with the CPE 1 community and tried to address their concerns. We were part of it. Unity was part of it too, but they were also the part that applauded someone who trash-talked the activist parents and teachers at last week's Executive Board.

Yes, just 10 days ago, many people on the UFT Ex Bd applauded when a first year untenured teacher (also a parent at the school) appeared with two other teachers to support Monika Garg and say what a wonderful principal she was and while at it to attack the veteran teachers who said they would only meet with them off campus because their chapter leader, Marilyn Martinez, was in the rubber room awaiting the outcome of her hearing. (I wonder how these people are feeling today.)

They were joined at the meeting by 4 parent Garg supporters -- the ringleader was pointed out to me, but given what will surely be attempts on the part of our allies to bring peace to the school and mend rifts (if the other side won there would have been a bloodbath), I will refrain from going after her --- but will point out that one parent said to me incredulously -- "but her child was in Marilyn's class last year -- how can she support these attacks?" Yet there she was, seemingly to help orchestrate an attempt to muddy the waters at the UFT - everyone knows they will go both ways - and my thought was did the district rep tell them to come because she detected the leadership moving in the right direction?

And then I saw it -- UFT District 4 Rep Sevia Silva cuddled with them in the hall with smiles and backslaps. Applause and backslaps from Unity Caucus for people -- well while they were talking CPE1 parents were texting me using the word "Scabs." Note that not all teachers hired by Garg supported them. A few weeks ago when the large anti-Garg crew showed up one of the Garg hires was with them, and the CPE1 people were so proud of her not only for supporting them but to them most importantly, how much she has learned as a teacher.

The first meeting Peter Lamphere and I had with a large group of teachers c. Feb 2016 was off campus. (Let me point out that Peter has not only played a role in the CPE1 situation but also fired the first shot when Rosemarie Jahoda was installed as principal of Townsend Harris HS - a shot cited by the teachers at the school when they came to praise the UFT for helping them --they said they found anti-Jahoda pieces online but never mentioned Peter by name - I reposted this on Aug. 29, 2016 -- Peter Lamphere on Rosemarie Jahoda: What Does It Take To Get Promoted to Principal in NYC?)

They CPE1 teachers seemed shell-shocked. They had no idea of the blueprint Garg was following but it was so familiar to us since we had heard this story time and again from other schools. I remember asking questions - like -- "and I assume the local UFT doesn't really support you and in fact often looks like they are supporting the principal and District Supt" -- nods all around. We told them about the PEP meetings where they could confront Farina in person every month and they send a group of people to the next one and every meeting until tonight when they won't be going. I remember that after that first PEP meeting Jia and I ran into some of them outside and we all went out to eat at a restaurant in Chinatown.

They were mistrustful of Garg from Day 1 in July 2015 but wanted to give her a chance and she was not quite vicious - until she was appointed after a rushed C30 process around December 2015 after which she escalated the assaults. BEWARE THE RUSHED C30 PROCESS -- THE UFT MUST GET CONTROL OF THIS AND GIVE TEACHERS A BIGGER VOICE.

The Garg post-appointment escalation caused a reaction from the vet teachers. Garg went through each of their files and found something in the past to trigger an investigation of all of them. (How dare the Garg supporters claim these investigations -- all of which have come to nothing -- were legit?)

One of the leaders of the teachers was the school delegate -- Catlin Prestin. He helped circulate a petition in Jan. 2016. His name was on top and on the email as the circulator. Garg immediately attacked the 9 year teacher so beloved by the parents with letter after letter in his file, soon to be followed by charges of corporal punishment, his removal from the school around February, and his being brought up on 3020a charges - his hearing was not until this school year and has lingered with a decision expected any minute. When I found out from the parent of the child who was involved with the charges what really went on with Garg's lies and manipulation of an incident where the teacher had been trying to comfort the child my response was that Garg should be fired if not arrested.

(Parents while celebrating Marilyn's return have not given up trying to get Catlin back to the school. Contrast the two cases by the way - Marilyn charged and removed in Feb, 3020a "emergency" hearing in March, decision in May.)

It was Catlin's removal that led to people contacting Peter for a meeting with some MOREs - why? Because Silva and the Manhattan UFT borough office were so unresponsive -- after all - the UFT knew this blueprint and due to what I assume is more loyalty to its relationships to the CSA and DOE Officials, take a basic hands off approach. The don't view themselves as our reps but as a neutral negotiating party.

With MORE/NA elected Ex Bd members joining with CPE1 parents at the EB meetings to pressure the union into action. I remember bringing it up in my 2 minutes and Howie Schoor acting surprised -- and I made the point that this was a failure of the UFT at the root level where so many people say that

Hey, in this case it worked but in the hundreds of others because there is no group of parent activists like at CPE1 -- and at Townsend Harris too where students and parents got active -- well people are often left to drown.

..primary credit should go to the CPE 1 community. I spent a lot of time
listening to one of the parents in particular, and I rarely see the sort
of passion and dedication that came from both them and the activist
teachers combined with the activism it took to sustain this. The parents
and teachers who undertook this are fantastic role models. Many of us
are understandably disheartened and disillusioned, and unwilling to take
a stand. Perhaps it's natural that many of us need a crisis like this
to bring us to our feet....

Common sense didn't work. Looking at the situation objectively didn't
work. Relentless pressure and news coverage seems to be what finally
took the Arg out of Garg. And that, my friends, is exactly what we need to practice more of. I'm ready. Are you?

So I expect to be in a better mood after I eat something late this afternoon and hope I can report some more good news coming out of CPE1 ---

From Deborah Meier's blog:Central Park East I: A New Principal! Coming!Posted on May 17, 2017 by debmeierDear Friends and colleagues,I got some encouraging news a couple of days ago that I thought I’d pass on. The Department of Education in New York City has decided to seek a new principal for Central Park East I. As many of you know the school has spent almost two years in a state of crisis as a new principal sought to “”change it.” She believed that progressive education was not suitable for Black, Latino and low-income children. She had other faults that were of a more personal nature. Of course, even with her departure we still keep rebuilding the school. We will keep our fingers crossed and the pressure on to replace her with someone who shares more of our original beliefs and intentions. Rebuilding a school will not be easy and in many ways it requires starting all over again since one cannot replicate but must always invent. For me this is worth celebrating because it represents the power of a community to come together, persevere and eventually be heard. Of course it should not be so hard to get this kind of change in a public school that belongs to its teachers and families and children. The job ahead of them will not be easy but its friends will hopefully be there to help.

SO happy Garg was removed, & the UFT Rep was exonerated! But it is " a tale of 2 school systems indeed, one where abusive dangerous administrators are let off with a slap on the wrist, while teachers are put through the grinder with no help from the UFT for often false charges, or simply for speaking up!

Comments are welcome. Irrelevant and abusive comments will be deleted, as will all commercial links. Comment moderation is on, so if your comment does not appear it is because I have not been at my computer (I do not do cell phone moderating).

UFT Election Vote Comparison: 2004-10

A Personal Historical Perspective

Why Karen Lewis Reads Ed Notes

"A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

What media call "philanthropy" for the public schools are actually seed monies to establish a private "market" in publicly-financed education - an enterprise worth trillions if successfully penetrated by corporate America. Cory Booker, one of the "New Black Leaders" financed by the filthy rich, is key to creating a "nationwide corporate-managed schools network paid for by public funds but run by private managers.

"Ed Reformers" want to cash in on public education and to control its content and outcome, not improve it. Provide great education? Baby boomers had as close as this country has ever gotten to it when we were growing up. The Ed Reform Movement has no interest in seeing such a well-educated, democratically astute population ever again.

History of the UFT Pre-Weingarten Years

This award-winning series of articles by Jack Schierenbeck originally appeared in the New York Teacher in 1996 and 1997.

Naturally, from a certain point of view. But, despite certain biases, Schierenbeck, a great guy, was one of the best NY Teacher reporters so this is worth reading. Jack suffered a debilitating stroke many years ago (I used to get secret donations to ed notes from him through a 3rd source.)

“The schism in the union over radical politics [is] a major reason for stalling the growth of a teacher union for decades.” Revolutionary politics and ideology take center stage, as the original Teachers Union becomes a battlefield, pitting leftist against leftist and splitting the union.

Clarence Taylor's "Reds at the Blackboard" focused on the old Teachers Union which disbanded in 1964 after suffering from anti-left attacks.

Effective Union Organizing

A video series put together by Jason Mann from the British Columbia Federation of Teachers about social media and how to use it for effective union organizing.

The first series was called New Media For Union Activists Roadmap and it's still available on-line at:http://www.newmediabootcamp.ca/welcome/I watched some of them and need to rewatch as they are loaded with information.

The second series started last week and it's called "Online Campaigning for Union Activists"

You Don't Have A Choice - Join the Revolt

Hedges says, There are no excuses left. Either you join the revolt taking place on Wall Street and in the financial districts of other cities across the country or you stand on the wrong side of history.

Ex-Harlem Success Teacher Comments on Eva the Diva

I am a former Harlem Success teacher. Not many people who work/worked for her like her very much. I once made the comment that she is very nice when I first was hired. Two of her closest colleague responded immediately almost in unison, "Eve is not nice!" Over time I realized that there was a lot of political games going on. Another colleague once said to me that he was tired of "being part of a political campaign." Sending out 15,000 applications for only 400 seats in a school is reprehensible. The money that paid for those mass mailings could have paid the yearly salary of another teacher not to mention the heartache of all those parents who applied but did not get a spot. She does good work trying to give disadvantaged students a quality public school education but at a great cost to staff AND the school's educational budget! school budget.

GEM's Julie Cavanagh Debates E4E member on NY1 on LIFO and Seniority

Davis Guggenheim Compared to Riefenstahl

“Waiting for Superman" is the second most intellectually dishonest piece of documentary work I have seen. It is surpassed only by Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," the pro-Hitler propaganda classic, in that regard. Uses personal narratives of adorable children to create narrative suspense that overrides public policy discussion with pure emotion in unscrupulous attack on teachers and their unions, among others

Timothy TysonProfessor of African American Studies and HistoryDuke University

A Familiar Voice on Unions

"We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and take away their right to strike"- Adolf Hitler, May 2, 1933

How Teaching Experience Makes a Difference

Even as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and others around the nation are arguing for experienced teachers to be laid off regardless of seniority, every single study shows teaching experience matters. In fact, the only two observable factors that have been found consistently to lead to higher student achievement are class size and teacher experience, so that it’s ironic that these same individuals are trying to undermine both.- Leonie Haimson on Parents Across America web site

Outsource our children

Weingarten/Gates Foundation announce drone-driven teacher evaluation

According to a press release issued by the Gates Foundation, the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, these three have entered a ground-breaking partnership to evaluate teachers utilizing the drone technology that has revolutionized warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. A bird-size device floats up to 400 feet above a classroom and instantly beams live video of teachers in action to agents at desks at Teacher Quality Inspection Stations established by the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

When asked if the drones were authorized to drop bombs on teachers who exhibit inadequacy, Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, replied, "Don't be ridiculous. Gates money puts other methods at our disposal."

Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.5-million-member American Federation of Teachers said the powerful union has signed on to the drone project...

Teacher Value-Added Data Dumping by Norm Scott

The Real Reason Behind Push for Standardized Tests: It's All About the Adults

On standardized testing in our schools

A must read article about the standardized test industry.Written by an insider who has worked as a test scorer, the article outlines a multinational industry based on an army of temporary workers paid by the piece at $0.30 to $0.70 per test, translated in the need to grade 40 tests per hour to make a $12 salary. The article goes on to show how the companies gauge the grading "results" based on the need to ensure new contracts to continue profiting off of our youth. The original article is from Monthly Review. Here it is on Schools Matter blog.

From Sharon Higgins

Parallels between America today and Germany in the 1920's and early 30's

"Resentment and obstruction are all the right wing in America have to peddle. Their policies are utterly discredited. Their ideology - even by its own standards - is a sham. They are so bereft of leaders, their de facto leader is a former drug addicted, thrice-divorced radio talk show host. That is literally the best they can muster. But they have built a national franchise inciting the downwardly mobile to blame the government, not the right, for their problems, exactly as Hitler did in the 1920s."

Chicago View of Unity/UFT on Charters

After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings — though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.

Ed Notes Greatest Hits: HSA Rally and Founding of GEM

Angel Gonzalez and I attended that rally and used the footage to promote our conference on Mar. 28, 2009, which is where the concept of a group like GEM emerged. Until then we had basically been a committee of ICE working with the NYCORE high stakes testing group. The actions of Eva and crew helped spawn GEM. Mommie Dearest!!

I have more video somewhere. I was hoping to get Leni Riefenstahl to edit it but she died. We would have called it "Triumph of the Hedge Fund Operators."

Video of Chicago's George Schmidt and CORE Shredding Arne Duncan and the Chicago Corporate Model

Great Post on Teacher Quality at the Morton School

I'm very tired of the myth that schools are bursting at the seams with apathetic, unskilled, surly, child-hating losers who can't get jobs doing anything else. I recently figured that, counting high school and college where one encounters many teachers in the course of a year, I had well over 100 teachers in my lifetime, and I can only say that one or two truly had no place being in a classroom.